The duo of Harry Parsons and Elliott Butt (Sweetboy Musik) in Ctrl+V (pronounced Paste) are like a rock band trapped inside of a nightclub. The Newfoundland rave punk band is influenced by darkwave, hard rock, and a dash of punk music.
Their song “Curtain” is about a person being infatuated with someone, and not being able to do anything about it. Parsons was drawn to the symbolism of a curtain and the visual of a curtain closing at the end of a play. Thus, the storyline of the song became a fictional play, in which one character is battling for the affection of another character.
Once the song was written, Ctrl+V sought the guidance of Ted Sablay for feedback (touring guitarist with The Killers and a mentor of Parsons), and had the song mixed by Mark Needham (who mixed the debut Killers album, Hot Fuss).
“This song is more or less a ballad, but it’s produced like a heavy/hard-rock song,” says Parsons. “That production style is what Ctrl+V is all about… we take really sweet, romantic, glittery sounds and serve them up heavy.”
Garnering over 45 million global streams to date, The Man Who have proven that their signature blend of rock meets pop anthems are a welcome addition to today’s genre-defying landscape. With their music becoming the backdrop of the North American sports scene, top tier sync features rolling in, and smashing alt rock radio airplay, The Man Who are redefining what it means to be a Canadian rock band.
Now, they unveil an evocative cover of “Dreams” by ‘90s alt icons The Cranberries. “An incredible song can transcend time and space,” The Man Who states. “‘Dreams’ is one of those songs, so putting our own darker spin on it felt so therapeutic.”
Separated by over 2000 miles, The Man Who formed after several writing trips led to settling in Toronto, ON. Experimenting with anything they could get their hands on, they developed their sound in a basement studio, demoing song after song. Whether writing with an acoustic guitar or a fuzzed out bass and an 808, The Man Who pushes the barriers of rock and pop.
The Tuesday Nighters are a Canadian rock n’ roll band with a spirit found on the dance floors of downtown Toronto, and a soul in the small towns and countryside of Northern Ontario.
The song “Eddie” was inspired by the story of Private Eddie Namaypoke, an Indigenous soldier and residential school runaway who was killed in WWII and is buried in the Rome War Cemetery. The band wanted to honour him with this haunting retelling of Eddie’s very sad story through the power of music.
Songwriter Taylor Prestidge visited his grave there and later met his surviving family at Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung (The Manitou Mounds) in Northwestern Ontario (near Kenora). To our knowledge, this is the only time Eddie has been visited in that cemetery. This story was chronicled by Taylor in an article published in Maclean’s Remembrance Day Issue in 2016.
The band felt that it was extremely fitting that it was recorded at Jukasa Studio, which sits on the Six Nations Land. Furthermore, 50% of all proceeds from the song will be donated to the Downie Wenjack fund.
Kelle grew up surrounded by music. Coming from a family of musicians, she found herself naturally drawn to music at a young age through stories of her Father’s band in Australia and hearing the constant hum of his guitar through her early years. As a product of the late 90’s/early 2000’s, Kelle takes inspiration from all that is pop culture.
Her song “Tampa” is emblematic of how Kelle processes pain. During a time in her life where I was experiencing a lot of different emotions, she frequently found herself in the place where anger and shame coincided, which, in turn, only fueled her anger further.
There is something to be said about the way women are viewed when they are justifiably angry, and the pressure to continue along the high road, in fear of being painted as crazy, bitter, or scorned. In “Tampa,” Kelle chooses to embrace the scorned woman trope, and provide her with support and empathy instead of shame. Through a narrative lens, we can dramatize these heavy feelings and find joy, humour, and celebration in their place.
The “Tampa” music video is a fun, glamorous expression of femininity, rage, and is inspired by campy 80’s slasher movies, early 2000’s hot pink, and the fascination of the idea of women as murderers. The cast features Kelle, Lara Hamburg, Sara Hinding, Elisa Verrilli, Bennett Aitchison, and Madi Langon.
Watch the crazy fun music video directed by Elisa Verrilli here:
Mike Dubue has released music under the name HILOTRONS since 2001, in addition to producing and recording for other artists including The Sadies, Ian Tamblyn, and Timber Timbre – which he also plays keyboards and tours with.
Inspired by film scores of the 1960’s and 1970’s, “Lonely Cinema (Omission of Sin)” is a 19 minute fantasia composed of four movements with the third movement as a separate song cycle in two parts.
This piece of music is the fourth addition in a series, following Lonely Cinema I & II and the EP Suicide Kingdom, that HILOTRONS released in 2020 and 2021. Twangy surf guitars and an orchestra of synthesizers weave together ever-changing complex arrangements and soundscapes built on funk and rock rhythms that serve up ethereal melodies and sudden bursts of noise.
Composed, arranged, produced, performed, recorded and mixed at his studio (Studio Cimetière) in a 167 year old church in Quyon, QC, Canada, Michael Dubue creates a soundtrack that takes the listener on an anxious and unpredictable ride, only to arrive in the rain where gloomy characters emerge and an operetta begins.
“Lonely Cinema (Omission of Sin)” features crooner, musician, songwriter, producer and actor Geoffrey Pye (Yellow Jacket Avenger), who also wrote the lyrics and vocals in the song cycle, as well as musicians Mike Feuerstack (Bell Orchestre) on pedal steel and Olivier Fairfield (FET.NAT, Last Ex) on drums.
The Americans are an acclaimed Indie-Folk-Americana band who hail from Los Angeles. This coming Friday July 21the group is set to release their new EP, Strays, with their second single out today for “Kingdom.”
The band’s distinctive, powerful works have captured the attention of a number of stars. They’ve backed Nick Cave, Lucinda Williams, Ashley Monroe, and Devendra Banhart, and twice joined Ryan Bingham on national tours. They worked closely with Jack White and T Bone Burnett, joining Nas, Elton John, and Alabama Shakes in thePBS primetime series American Epic. Additionally, they appeared on The Late Show (CBS), and their music was featured in the films Texas Killing Fields, A Country Called Home, Little Glory, and the TV series, No Tomorrow.
The upcoming EP Strays is an impressive demonstration of the band’s ability to reinvent rock & roll through the prism of early folk and blues. Patrick Ferris (vocals/guitar), Zac Sokolow (guitar), and Jake Faulkner (bass) deliver an album that lands somewhere between Bruce Springsteen and Nathaniel Rateliff.
The Americans’ last two releases, Stand True (2022) and I’ll Be Yours (2017), helped catapult the band into the spotlight. Revered producer T Bone Burnett called them “genius twenty-first century musicians that are reinventing American heritage music for this century. And it sounds even better this century.” Acclaimed music journalist Greil Marcus (Pitchfork) writes, “From the first rolling guitar notes, carrying sadness and defiance like dust, this sweeps me up: I want to know everything about where that feeling came from, and where it’s going.”
Patrick’s resonant vocals shine again on the hard-hitting second single “Kingdom.” Layered with ripping guitar riffs from Zac and exquisite bass grooves from Jake, the song examines the power of one-way desire. Patrick snarls, “You hold the key to the kingdom / Wrapped ’round your wrist like a weapon.”
“We write our songs inside-out,” says Patrick. “We grab hold of something minuscule and primitive—a simple turn of phrase or an unusual beat—and try to build a song around it. It’s inefficient, but when it works, it works.”
Strays is an EP that’s full of catchy hooks, soulful vocals, and innovative arrangements. The Americans have once again proved themselves to be one of the most exciting and talented bands in the roots music scene.
Modern Mystery 
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